Deep Roots

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of market orientation and, in some cases, limited access to

market reduces the benefits that may arise from commerciali-

zation and modern value chains. The development of vertically

coordinated supply chains in recent years, involving explicit

contracts between farmers and processors/traders, has largely

bypassed the small farmers as the food processing companies

often prefer to enter into contractual arrangements with a few

large farmers than with many small farmers for managerial

efficiency. Tenant and women farmers’ scope to benefit from

contract farming is much more limited, as they do not have

land in their names, and informal tenants also lack tenurial

security in most cases. Besides, small farmers’ participation in

modern supermarkets requires greater managerial skills and an

ability to ensure regular supply and to meet food safety and

quality standards. In addition, small farmers’ inadequate access

to credit, storage, packing or processing facilities becomes a

constraint to their market participation. Also, providing timely

and reliable market information to small family farms is essen-

tial for their market participation. In some cases, small farmers

work in a group which helps them to enter into contractual

arrangements with a company or supermarket. In India, the

Kudmbashree experience in Kerala as well as farm producers’

organizations in Madhya Pradesh, which enable small farmers

to take up agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises on a

viable basis with support from local self-government and banks,

are good examples of how collective action by small farmers can

help improve their bargaining power and status.

Third, access to adequate land is necessary for sustain-

able livelihoods of marginal and small farmers, as they do

not have much access to non-farm employment opportu-

nities for lack of education and skills. Land leasing could

be an option for improving their increased access to land.

But this would require the lifting of legal restrictions on

land leasing in many countries including India. In fact,

legalization of land leasing along with security of tenure

for the tenants would help improve their access to credit

for investment in new technical inputs for productivity

enhancement, as well as encouraging some farmers to lease

out and take up non-farm activities.

Fourth, secure land rights for women is regarded as funda-

mental to ensuring food security. Agricultural production

and food security increases when women are granted land

tenure security. According to FAO,

if women had access to

the same productive resources as men, they could increase

yields on their farms by 20-30 per cent. These gains could

lift some 100-150 million people out of hunger. However,

there are legal as well as sociocultural barriers to land and

property rights for women, which need to be overcome

through sustained awareness building and policy changes.

In the past two years, the states of West Bengal and Odisha

in India have allocated homestead plots to more than 0.3

million families, jointly in the name of wife and husband,

which is reported to have had a significant impact on the

food and livelihood security of the beneficiaries.

Crop yields and incomes vary widely between the countries of the Asia-Pacific region

Source: FAO Statistics 2011-12 and World Development Report 2012-13

Bangladesh

Bhutan

Cambodia

China

India

Indonesia

Lao PDR

Malaysia

Nepal

Pakistan

Philippines

Sri Lanka

Thailand

Viet Nam

Soouth Korea

150

300

250

200

100

Agricultural value added per worker (Constant ‘00 US$ 2012)

Latest headcount national poverty line (%)

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